Friday, December 4, 2015

Start of day 3, we tried to arrive early to sign up for one of the puzzle games, but too many others arrived earlier. Like, the first person got there at 5:30

So we took advantage of be up anyway and were able to snag one of the hot games, The Gallerist. But somehow we just weren't feeling it, too many rules maybe and so we abandoned...if you want a complex game, go get Prime Time or a Vlaada. Maybe someday we will give it another chance since it popped up on the best games list all the time.

But it didn't matter because then we got to play a big one on our list, Loopin' Chewie!

A version of Loopin' Louie from the 80's. Apparently these are huge at German bars?! So they are hard to get?! It is a physical game where the Millenium Falcon, with Chewie hanging out the top spins around and smack the handle to flip it in the air and knock out your opponents

It was so much fun we had to play 3 rounds of it!

Another new game, Cacao

You each have a jungle village

And together are exploring the jungle-uncovering ways to get victory points. Liked it so much we bought one-I think it has a good balance of randomness and planning and messing with your neighbors.

So much fun!!

You build the train

And your folks run back and forth, stealing money, shooting or punching the other players. I can guess it won't have the most replay value in the world...but so much fun! I want to play again next year!

Our full group of friends was 7, so we only got to play together for a few games, but this was a hot new one that supports up to 7. You get to build cities! But you have to build them with your neighbor....could be trouble.

Houses, parks, offices and taverns! Liked this so much we bought it :)

One of the best parts of BGG is their library of older games that you would have to really hunt down or more likely would never have heard of (like Fireball Island!!).

Fu Manchu's Hidden Hoard, based on the books (heaven't read, but they sound like they are up my alley). Yeah, pretty racist theme, great game play.

This is what you wanted Clue to be. There are clue cards, some are true and some are false. They are Schrodinger clues until you role the dice and ask questions to uncover the answer, so each game is different.

And once you have figured all the true clues, you move your pawn by following the directions. E- won, but I took the most extensive notes :)

BGG also has merchants. Not so many like Essen that you are completely overwhelmed...but enough. They are happy to play their games with you. Broom Service won gamer's game of the year, we played a round and bought it :)

Nice game play, you make a plan and then the other players mess it up...but you still have stuff to do. And it has a small bit of a trick taking mechanic. Flexible enough you could take out a few things and play with younger kids.

Since we had loved CVilizations so much we had to go play the original CV. Same great art!

Less interactive, but very satisfying-you are building your life story. You have jobs, friends, romance and stuff. You have to balance it all to get a good score.

Around this time our group went and played Artemis, the 6 player computer game simulating a starship. So much fun that one day we played 30 min and went back the next for an hour. Each player has a laptop and runs their section of the ship. Except the captain who has to facilitate communication and pick what to do.

And then we played the dice game version of running a starship.

Loved it so much we bought it-great for a larger group, fast, fun, has old-school (Kirk) and new-school (Picard).

Folks were driving hot wheels around the track with their phones, obviously a lot of fun.

Late Friday night is the Battling Tops tournament...that is Cardinal Cardinal :) There is a whole tradition around the different factions fighting for supremacy. This year a new group, the Evil League of Evil splintered from the Agents of Agony. Have to go back next year to see what happens!

After barely getting enough sleep we had one more day.

Opened with this hot 2-player game.

Effective game theme-you are a couple who is breaking up? And are encouraged to NOT discuss the game itself but to talk about other things? We played 3 times and lost each one. It is a co-operative puzzle game...but the presentation/theme is...powerful. We may have to buy it?

Hah! I've been meaning to play this since it was a hot game in Essen a few years ago. Finally! A lovely fellow knew how to play and joined us and taught it.

A bit of area control, a bit of grabbing the rule breaking chits. It ended much faster than I wanted it to-was just getting the hang of it. Would like to play again a few times to see if it has longer replay value.

Oh this was fun! On the hot games table we had seen it happening a few times and got to play with someone who had played it before. You are running an Inn. It doesn't make much money. You want to steal your customers money! But it is easier to steal if they are dead. Just bury the bodies before the constabulary catches you!

A French game they were not planning on releasing in the states because it is too violent?!? You have to plan your timing, if you build too nice of an engine, the game will be over!

Croakinole? A bar game of flicking disks. I'm terrible at these, but had to play a round on this specially made for the conference table.

Doh-forgot to get a photo of Pandemic the Cure, which we taught to Robert, who then taught us Dr. Eureka!

A bit like Ricochet Robots, but you physically move the balls back and forth between the beakers to match the card. Whoever is fastest wins. We heard the new variation on this is Dimensions...but it was too hot for us to check out of the library.

Doh, this is where I forgot to get a photo of A Study in Emerald. The other half of our group had already played their own copy of edition 1, but we managed to get the new edition from the library. You are secretly a Loyalist or a Restorationist. Gain influence and assassinate others. Would like to play this again.

And finally, the last game of the conference. Again some lovely folks stopped by to teach us and join. Many things to do...too many of course. Well themed and big fun!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

We went to the best convention ever! BoardGameGeek holds conventions that are just amazing. They bring ~4000 games to a convention center to set up a game library, and then people come and play games! I had so much fun I was losing my voice by the end. Here are most of the games we played.

Day one you check in-get your badge, get your free games, find your friends. After games we ate BBQ at Hard Eight-five stars!

Peptide! Scientifically accurate with a reasonable game mechanic.

We were the first to play this from the library so we got to punch it out.

OMG! If we had played no other game I still would have been happy because we played Fireball Island. You are running to get the jewel and bring it back to the boat...but the island spews fireballs-red marbles to thwart your plans.

It's from the 80's, molded plastic.

Fireballs precariously perched

to knock you over!

We had a real back and forth at the end where the jewel changed hands 5 times!

In the end Biggles was victorious-well done!

Day 2

Our first game of the day-from the hot games tables!

Exactly as described, you place animals on the land and move up the track. A little fiddly but ok mechanics.

One of my favorites from the hot games, it really is a game of civ in 45 minutes. I really like the level of interaction

A bunch of the civ cards.

7 Wonders Duels, a 2-person version. Really enjoyed this-the same feel as the full game, but for two.

A super quick kids game.

You add monsters to the platform

but someone falls off when there are too many. You don't want to be the person who makes it fall off!

We got taught by the developer-a very good complex game that fits exceptionally well with the theme.

Hire stars, place programs, draw in viewers, make money, repeat!

Best trivia game ever!

Everyone guesses the answer to the trivia question (which is just a little opaque) and then everyone bets on the answers!

One of the top ten during the conference-clever premise, oh Vlaada, we love you so! It encourages clever word play.

Might be best with a group where everyone knows each other the same amount-we split the spouses and ended up balanced (together we would have totally won!)

Last game of the night...we really didn't give it a proper chance. It seemed like a good mechanic, but I felt like we just couldn't get the hang of the co-operation mechanic.

I didn't get to play this, but had to grab a photo for all my quilting friends! Not the best score on BGG, but I want to play it!